


Out of reach

by Obliviouslarry



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Non-Famous, Angst, Boys Being Boys, Cuddling & Snuggling, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Miscommunication, Non-Famous Harry, Non-Famous Louis Tomlinson, Non-Famous Niall, Non-Famous Zayn Malik, Oblivious, Pining, a suprisingly low amount of affection between Niall and Louis for a fake relationship, larry stylinson - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-18
Updated: 2020-01-18
Packaged: 2021-02-19 07:10:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22307212
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Obliviouslarry/pseuds/Obliviouslarry
Summary: Falling for your best friend's boyfriend is never a good ideaor the one where Niall and Louis are in a fake relationship. Niall's best friend Harry doesn't know and falls in love with Louis anyways
Relationships: Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson
Kudos: 15
Collections: Larry, readfics larry





	Out of reach

**Author's Note:**

> This fic started as me reading through the fanfics I wrote at 12 an absolutely cringing but still deciding to rewrite one as procrastination for my test. This might not be my best work, but I still hope you enjoy :)

Harry has been friends with Niall for about 6 months, some days he has no idea how he even manages to even put up with the originally Irish lad, yes Niall has pointed out the fact that he is Irish an exact 104 times since their first initial meeting. They had hit it off immediately when they met for the first time during college when Niall decided to come and sit down next to him during one of their classes, looking for a victim to annoy in order to make the time of his classes pass by faster. Harry had been outragedly annoyed by Niall’s constant chatter during their classes in the beginning of their friendship, but after a while he had come to love it and was nowadays joining in on his constant chatter, having loud conversations with Niall in the back of the lecture rooms in between of trying to pay enough attention to their actual class material in order to still be able to pass the course. They now considered themselves to be each other’s best friend, sharing every little detail of their everlasting days at the university, all of their stupid drunk mistakes and secrets with each other.

Even though Harry considered himself to be Niall’s best friend, being attached to the blond lad’s hip basically every second of the day, he had yet failed to meet Niall’s supposed boyfriend Louis. However, that was supposed to change tonight. Niall had invited him over for dinner and maybe to watch a film or two together like they did every Friday, however Niall had informed him that this time his boyfriend Louis would be joining them, since he had wanted to introduce his best friend to his boyfriend for ages. Harry had agreed, uncertainty clouding his mind, he had some conflicted feelings about meeting Niall’s supposed boyfriend. Not that he was homophobic or something, certainly not considering that he was into guys himself as well. He just didn’t really feel excited about the thought of him having to third wheel with Niall and his boyfriend, however Niall had assured him that that wouldn’t be happening at which Harry had warily agreed to the invitation.

So that’s where he was now, sitting on the couch in Niall’s apartment, whilst Niall was preparing their dinner in the kitchen, waiting for Niall’s secret boyfriend to arrive. His wariness about meeting Niall’s boyfriend had worn off and was now instead replaced by a jittery feeling, excited to finally meet the boy that had supposedly stolen his best friend’s heart. Harry had even prepared himself for the ‘you hurt my best friend, I will kill you’ talk that he was going to be having with Louis when he finally met him. Niall had told him to ‘dress to impress’ with a smile plastered on his face when he had called Harry over facetime just an hour before he was supposed to head over to Niall’s place, at which Harry had cursed at him before hanging up on him and getting ready. He had decided to go for one of his black skinny jeans that looked like they had been painted on to his legs, paired with a black sheer blouse that was covered in small embroidered flowers which was one of his favourite blouses and always posed as a trustworthy options when he was told to dress to impress. He had paired his outfit with a pair of worn out boots and a small pearl necklace that he had gotten from his mother for his last birthday, one of his most precious jewels in his small but slowly growing collection.

“Jesus Styles, when I told you to dress to impress, I didn’t mean dress to make my boyfriend want to fuck you.” Niall had told him with a chuckle when Harry had greeted him with a hug when the lad had opened the door. Harry’s eyes had widened at Niall’s response who as a result has opened his mouth quickly to assure Harry “Just messing with you babe, you look absolutely amazing don’t worry about it.”

Harry was broken out of his thoughts by the sounds of a doorbell and he quickly stood up to dust himself up and make himself proper. He was assuming that Niall would be the one to get the door, considering that it was his boyfriend standing at the door nevertheless. However a yell came from the kitchen “Harry, can you get the door for me please, I’m too busy getting the chicken out of the oven as we speak!”

“Sure, but only since you asked so nicely for once!” Harry yelled back to his best friend before letting out a quick sigh at being forced to greet Niall’s unknown boyfriend for the first time all by himself.

“Thanks babe, you’re the best!” Niall had yelled back, mischief evident in his voice, which was kind of weird considering that Harry was just going to be opening the door for his boyfriend. He wanted to make a great first impression. 

The realisation that he was actually going to be meeting Niall’s boyfriend was starting to sink in as he hurried towards the door, mentally preparing himself for having to introduce himself to Louis.

Harry opened the door and allowed his eyes to travel over the slightly shorter figure for a few seconds, hoping that it wasn’t going to be perceived as rude by the receiver. He had to admit that the guy was handsome, Niall definitely didn’t have a bad taste in men if his boyfriend was anything to go by off. He was wearing a black t-shirt that was hugging his slim body perfectly, paired with tight black jeans that were closely fitted to his legs, making his toned thighs prevalent through the fabric. His cheekbones were sharp and his eyes were the most beautiful shade of blue that Harry had ever seen, reminding him of waves crashing against the rocks during a stormy night. His lips were thin, but they had the most lovely kissable shape that Harry had ever seen on a guy, they were now formed in a little smirk clearly having noticed Harry’s lingering gaze.

”Checking me out, are we?” Louis said cheekily, his lips going back to the smirk they were in before he uttered the sentence. His eyes quickly scanned Harry’s chest where all of his tattoos were clearly visible through his sheer blouse and he shot Harry a quick wink before stepping inside the door, getting even closer to Harry than he had been prior. 

Harry flushed bright red at the words that Louis had uttered just a few seconds ago, feeling a bit overwhelmed by the attention that was being placed on him. The realisation quickly dawned on Harry that it was Niall’s boyfriend that he had been checking out so shamelessly at which he snapped out of the little bubble he was currently in and quickly took a step back like fire had touched his feet.

“Don’t worry, you’re not too bad yourself so I’ll let it slide this time.” Louis said with a smile, and Harry was just standing there stunned because did Louis, his best friend’s boyfriend just really flirt with him?

“I’m Louis, Louis Tomlinson if you’re wondering about the last name. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you Harry, I’ve heard a lot about you from Niall.” Louis said with a gentle smile before walking through the door that led to the living room and making his way to the kitchen where Niall was.

Harry closed the door, having forgotten to do so immediately after Louis had stepped through the door, and he started walking in the direction of the kitchen whilst still feeling stunned.

Harry walked in and suddenly saw Niall giving Louis a quick peck on the lips, it didn’t even last a millisecond. He had to look away to hide his flushed cheeks that were the only reminder of what had just happened in the hallway. Harry didn’t understand why he was acting this way, normally he was the most calm and collected guy around strangers, his voice always having a flirtatious tone to it, charming everyone that he met in an instance. However, with Louis it was different, way different, for some reason Louis caused him to stumble over his words and his cheeks to flush at every ounce of attention he was given by the man.

Harry walked to the dining table with a pitcher of ice cold water in his hands, wanting to escape the uncomfortable situation he had found himself in. he poured some water in all of the glasses before placing the pitcher down in the middle of the table and sitting down in the chair he usual sat in whenever he was over at Niall’s for dinner.

Just a few seconds later, Niall also came heading towards the dining table whilst carrying a big pan in his hands and with Louis trailing closely behind him. Niall put down the steaming pan filled to the brim with pasta on the table whilst Louis sat down in the seat on the opposite of Harry so they were directly facing each other, just his luck. Niall sat down in the seat next to Louis and he helped himself to a serving of the pasta before he announced that it was time to eat, eagerly digging in. Louis grabbed Harry’s plate wordlessly before putting some pasta on it, handing it back to Harry with a soft smile grazing his lips. Harry shyly returned the smile before quickly looking down at his food, hoping to hid the small flush that had been displayed on his cheeks as a consequence of Louis’ generous action.

\---

Once they were done eating, Harry offered to wash the dishes since Niall had done the cooking, refusing Niall and Louis’ help when they had argued that it wasn’t fair, Harry arguing back that Louis was their guest and should have to help. Harry had ushered them off to the couch telling them to go and pick a movie, hoping that the task would keep them occupied till he was finished with the dishes.

He was just drying off the last plate, relieved that he was finally almost finished, when he suddenly felt a hand resting on his waist at which he flinched slightly, feeling slightly spooked at having his peace and quiet disturbed so suddenly. He turned around slowly, hoping it was Niall’s hand, however his hopes were shattered when he saw Louis standing next to him with a smile on his face that was causing his eyes to crinkle, the blue almost completely disappearing. He was apparently so surprised by Louis standing next to him and at how close he was standing to him that he let go of the plate that he had been drying off. He closed his eyes waiting for the plate to fall to the ground and to shatter with a loud noise whilst the plate broke in pieces. However, the noise never came and Harry slowly opened his eyes to see that Louis was standing there with the plate in his right hand apparently having caught the plate before it had gotten the chance to hit the ground and shatter. Louis slowly moved away from the position he had been in to put the plate on the counter before speaking up in a husky voice, which was probably meant to sound seducing and it was, it definitely was, even though Harry didn’t want it to be.

“You’ve got to be more careful, love.”

If there was one thing that Harry had not expected about this evening it was the amount of flirting that was seemingly seeping out of every move or word that came from Louis, his best friend’s boyfriend for fuck’s sake. Harry dropped his head in his hands for a few seconds out of frustration, forgetting that Louis was still able to see him. He tried to step away from Louis, wanting to get out of this situation as quickly as possible, trying to contain himself, not daring a word to escape from his mouth afraid of what he would say and afraid that he would not be able to utter anything without a stutter prevalent in his words. He looked down to see that Louis had grabbed his wrist and had him pinned against the counter with his body that was slightly shorter than Harry himself, he could easily break out of the hold if he wanted to seeing that he had the advantage of his height in this situation, but his mind didn’t want him to. 

Louis slowly leaned forwards and Harry’s breathe hitched, his lips almost touching Harry’s ear before letting out a small husky whisper that drove Harry crazy “The movie is about to start, we’re waiting for you.”

Louis walked away after he had uttered the sentence, leaving Harry sagged against the counter that he was now holding on to with his both hands, his knuckles turning white due to the strain of his hold. Harry lifted one of his hands to quickly swipe it through his hair, feeling overwhelmed at what had just happened. Guilt was starting to seep through his veins, why did he let Louis do that, he was Niall’s boyfriend. Niall would never forget Harry if he knew what he was feeling towards his boyfriend right now, Harry was sure of that. He just didn’t understand what Louis was doing with him, and most importantly he didn’t understand why. Why would Louis flirt with him like that if he was in a relationship and his boyfriend was literally sitting in the next room. Confusion clouded Harry’s mind when he walked towards the living room, knowing that he had to join for the movie night or Niall would become suspicious and question him about what was wrong, and Harry was sure that he would not be able to hide what had just happened, not possessing the ability to lie to his best friend.

As he was walking into the living room he saw that Niall was sitting in the love seat alone instead of on the couch next to Louis, which was weird seeing that normally you would assume that you would want to sit next to your own boyfriend instead of by yourself. His doubt were rudely intervened by the realisation that dawned on him that this meant that the only place left for him to sit was next to Louis on the couch. Harry slowly breathed in and counted to 3 before breathing out slowly and walking towards the couch, trying to look as calm as possible, the complete opposite of what he was actually feeling in this moment. He sat himself down on the opposite side of the couch than Louis was currently sitting, trying to create as much space between him and Louis as possible, trying to ignore the force that was pulling him towards Louis.

Harry looked up at the television, trying to shift his complete attention to what was happening on the screen in order to avoid Louis who had turned to look at him as soon as his body had hit the couch. It became apparent to Harry after a few seconds of focussing on the screen that they had put on a horror film, a genre that he absolutely despised which Niall knew. He turned his head to glare at Niall who was looking back at him with a smile on his face, trying to put on an innocent face to deceive Harry into making him think that he was completely innocent in this. Niall knew that Harry absolutely despised any film that could possibly scare him, being a complete baby when it came to Horror movies. Every time they as much as even tried to watch a horror movie, Harry had ended up completely cuddled into Niall’s side trying to hide his face in Niall’s body so he wouldn’t be able to follow the movie anymore, being too scared. He quickly flipped Niall the bird, before grabbing the pillow that was next to him and cuddling it to his chest just in case, before returning his focus to the screen, afraid of what was about to come next.

\---

They were half an hour into the film and to say that Harry was scared would be an absolute understatement. He had shifted closer to Louis unconsciously and he was now almost pressed to Louis’ side completely, it had taken him some time to finally notice what he had done and when he did it had seemed simply too rude to suddenly scoot back to the other side of the couch. From the corner of his eyes he could see Niall smirking whilst glancing at them every few minutes, which seemed a bit odd to Harry, but it was Niall, he was never really normal so Harry wasn’t too worried about that at the moment.

“It’s not even that scary Harry” Louis said in a soft voice that was filled with laughter at which Harry huffed like a little child, who was Louis to tell him that his fear wasn’t justified.

“I just don’t like horror movies, okay. Also it’s not fair since you’ve already seen the movie.” Harry whispered back loudly, trying to act like a bit of his masculinity was still intact in this situation, however, that was quickly contradicted by the small gasp that tumbled out of Harry’s mouth when he saw the brutal killing what was happening on the screen in front of them. Louis let out a loud laugh at that and put his arm around Harry’s shoulder pulling him close into his body in a move to comfort the younger lad. Harry seemingly stiffened at Louis’ action before relaxing in Louis’ body after a few seconds, snuggling his head into Louis’ shoulder so he wouldn’t be able to watch the movie anymore whenever it became particularly scary.

Harry was really trying to fight the constant urge to cuddle even further into Louis’ body, but he couldn’t, Louis just felt too comfortable and too warm. He shouldn’t feel so comfortable with Louis, he’s only known the man for like what, 2 hours, and next to that it was also his best friend’s boyfriend, it was wrong. In his defence he was just scared from the movie, hoping it would justify his actions of cuddling with the boyfriend of his best friend. _He knew it was wrong, it just felt so right._


End file.
